The Lost Letter

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Transcript of The Lost Letter

The Lost Letter Origins My Experiment Results Conclusions Measurements of attitudes about sensitive social issues is difficult using standard self-report techniquesPopularized by Milgram, Mann, and Harter in 1965Used to determine how helpful people are in a particular situationHas become the most widely used non-reactive measure of societal attitudes "Lost" 84 letters in two different cities to test the effect of income level on altruistic behavior42 letters were dropped in both Madison and West Point using 7 different locations and 6 different addresseesLocations were an open neighborhood, gated community, fast food location, restaurant, small retail store, larger retail store, and near a post officeAddressees names were picked in an attempt to control for ethnicityUsed a web-site to find the some of the most common first and last names for African-Americans and WhitesMolly and Connor MillerEbony and DeShawn WilliamsAndrea and Corey Johnson Found a 7% higher return rate in the higher economic areaPreference towards the White names in Madison and African-American names in West PointGated communities had the highest return rates other than the ones dropped near the post officeHope you do not drop a letter at a restaurant Matthew Peters Understanding social behavior Milgram's Experiment Dispersed 400 sealed, stamped and self-addressed envelopes in public places100 envelopes each were addressed to 3 different organizations and 1 person: Friends of the Communist partyFriends of the Nazi partyMedical Research AssociatesMr. Walter CarnapLetters were "lost" in the streets, under car windscreen wipers, telephone booths, and in shops"Participants" had the option to mail the letter, ignore it, or destroy it Milgram's Results Rate of return was the focus of the experimentMedical Research Associates had a return rate of 72%Personal letters were returned 71% of the timeThe return rate was only 25% for each for Friends of the Nazi Party and Friends of the Communist PartyOne interesting finding in Milgram's experiment is that some of the letters had been opened40% of the letters to the Communist Party 32% of the Nazi Party 25% of the Medical Research letters10% of the letters to Walter Carnap Replications Used to accurately predict the Johnson-Goldwater electionResearchers from UCL Anthropology used the lost letter technique to measure altruism across 20 London neighborhoods by dropping 300 lettersFound a strong effect of neighborhood income level on altruistic behavior87% returned in wealthier neighborhoods37% return rate in poorer neighborhoodsStern and Fabor used the technique with e-mail in 1997 to test attitudes toward presidential candidate Ross Perot Demographics MadisonEstimated median household income of $91,84884.6% White10.2% African-American

West PointEstimated median household income of $28,85137.3% White61.2% African-American

Source: http://www.city-data.com/ Altruism Defined altruism: the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others ( opposed to egoism ).